Tactical pen, what for ?

[kirk13]

Seriously, my pen of choice is my Fisher Bullet.  It's perhaps the only pen I have had long enough to use an entire cartridge, and in fact I actually have two bullets and both have been through multiple cartridges.  I write a lot of notes at work and the Bullets are great.

Def

Those Fisher bullet Space pens are great and very small... So small that I lost the first one I bought one day after receiving it

Your not the only one...my first Bullet lasted two days ,my first Fisher,a Hideaway,last hours

[farrierphil]

I got the Colt Tactical pen about 6months ago. £14.99 if i remember right. Swapped to a Fisher refil and it was still cheeper than a Parker pen. I keep it in my front pocket of jeans full time and its a solid pen!. Its got the glass breaker that i wanted but also comes with a crown breaker or DNA sampler that to me is redudant. I wouldnt know what to do with them and id feel daft if someone pulled a knife or gun on me and i pulled out a PEN! 
                         Oh that line about Russia useing a pencil in space might be an urban legend. Pencils wouldnt be used incase the graphite broke off and got stuck in control panels or jammed mechanisims. 

[kirk13]

Think the Russians used Fishers

[jerseydevil]

Think the Russians used Fishers

I'm not sure about that, but early NASA flights used mechanical pencils and grease pencils.

Sent from my mobile device using my fingers.

[nate j]

Everyone is partially correct, except for the claim that NASA (or another taxpayer-funded entity) footed the bill for the development of the Fisher space pen, which is totally false.

From what I can gather, both the US and the USSR initially used pencils (sometimes including the mechanical or grease varieties) on space missions.  Fisher used his own funds to develop the pen, and then offered it for sale to NASA.  After extensive testing, both countries adopted Fisher pens for use by their space programs in the late 1960s, and have been using them since.  Also, both countries paid only modest sums for the pens, even receiving discounts off of the normal list prices for buying in bulk.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen

http://www.spacepen.com/about-us.aspx

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

[jerseydevil]

Thanks for clearing that up Nate. I tried to do a bit of research but I'm using my phone and signal's a bit spotty where I am at the moment....

Sent from my mobile device using my fingers.

[nate j]

No problem.  Research is much easier for those of us who happen to be sitting at desktops ATM.

[Grant Lamontagne]

There's actually a page on the Fisher site that pretty well explains most of that.  I'd post a link but I'm on my tablet so I'll leave it to someone with a desktop or laptop handy!

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[enki_ck]

There's actually a page on the Fisher site that pretty well explains most of that.  I'd post a link but I'm on my tablet so I'll leave it to someone with a desktop or laptop handy!

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

http://www.spacepen.com/about-us.aspx